Ford published its fourth quarter earnings and reported a loss of $116 million. But the news that caught everyone’s attention is that the company reported a 28% y-o-y drop in its operating income, excluding the pension charge and other one-time items, both for the quarter and for the year.In Europe, Ford lost $199 million in the fourth quarter, with a full year loss of $398 million.

Targeting low cost real estate and offering affordable coffee to young professionals, Luckin is a technology-forward startup that has already made name for itself in a short span of time.  Should Luckin's growth worry Starbucks? It hasn't worried analysts yet, who maintain an overweight on Starbucks with a $70 price target. Luckin is still a start-up, and in China per-capita coffee consumption is less than one cup/year compared to 300 cups in the U.S.So, there is an ample opportunity for growth for both companies. Second, Starbucks also has a strong presence in China through its 3,251 stores, and its recent collaboration with UberEats is expected to act as a catalyst in further strengthening its foothold.

The U.S. dollar jumped to a five-year high against the euro on Thursday, following European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi’s comments. Draghi hinted that uncertainties related to international trade tensions, emerging market turmoil and geopolitical risks continue to plague the outlook for the euro zone’s economy.That probably set off market expectations of a dovish stance from the ECB, at least for the near-term.  The euro  was -0.18% lower against the dollar at $1.136, after falling as low as $1.1308 - its lowest since Dec. 17. What could have potentially added to the dollar’s upside was strong labor market conditions in the U.S. Latest official figures revealed that the number of applicants for unemployment benefits fell to more than a 49-year low last week in the U.S.

Apple has reportedly laid off over 200 employees from its autonomous vehicle project this week. According to CNBC, an Apple spokesperson indicated that some people are being moved to other segments (such as, machine learning and other initiatives) of the company, while some would continue to work on the driverless technology project called Project Titan. "We continue to believe there is a huge opportunity with autonomous systems, that Apple has unique capabilities to contribute, and that this is the most ambitious machine learning project ever."(as reported by CNBC)

In a rare show of unity, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta and Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey discussed during a World Economic Forum panel how their companies are reducing plastic use.READ MORE...

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell to more than a 49-year low last week, but the drop likely overstates the health of the labor market as claims for several states including California were estimated.READ MORE...

Unfavorable moves in exchange rates and lower sales volume - especially in Europe and Asia -  were to blame.  What's more, Ford took a $1.18 billion charge for "special items" , mostly consisting of pension and layoff costs. The company’s fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of 30 cents was below consensus forecast of 32 cents per share (estimates compiled by Refinitiv).It was also lower than the year-ago quarter’s 39 cents a share. Automotive segment revenue of $38.7 billion fell below estimate of $36.88 billion (based on Refinitiv data). On an unadjusted basis, Ford incurred losses of $116 million, during the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $2.52 billion a year earlier.

The pharmaceutical giant says it pulled its application to combine Opdivo and Yervoy after discussions with the FDA. Bristol, which announced a $74 billion acquisition of cancer drug maker Celgene earlier this month, will still seek approval for the combination for use by lung cancer patients with a different biomarker.The company also had better than expected Q4 results of $0.94 per share, nine cents above the Street's expectations.

In early 2019, UK employers offered the sharpest pay hikes in a decade. The latest official data indicates a 3.4% increase in British workers’ pay – the fastest pace in over 10 years.This stands in contrast with economic challenges related to Brexit. Median annual wage deals for this month was at 2.8 percent, compared with awards of 2.0 percent in December, according to preliminary figures collected by pay data firm XpertHR. UK unemployment is at its lowest rate since the mid-1970s.

In early 2019, UK employers offered the sharpest pay hikes in a decade. The latest official data indicates a 3.4% increase in British workers’ pay – the fastest pace in over 10 years.This stands in contrast with economic challenges related to Brexit. Median annual wage deals for this month was at 2.8 percent, compared with awards of 2.0 percent in December, according to preliminary figures collected by pay data firm XpertHR. UK unemployment is at its lowest rate since the mid-1970s.

Apple dismissed just over 200 employees this week from Project Titan, its stealthy autonomous vehicle group, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. Read More... 

It "infuriates" CNBC's Jim Cramer to watch hedge funds take control of the stock market by making decisions based on a single variable: the price of oil. Read More...

Bloomberg reports that Johnson & Johnson is looking to buy surgical robotics firm Auris Health Inc. J&J is seeking to purchase Auris at a premium to the valuation from its latest funding round that valued the company at $2 billion, Bloomberg reported.So far, a final deal has not been reached and discussions are not guaranteed to lead to a sale of Auris.

Bloomberg reports that cannabis retailer Green Growth Brands Inc. is looking to buy Canada-based Aphria Inc. for about $1.8 billion, less than a month after the Canadian company rejected the bid. Green Growth hasn't changed its terms since the first bid in December offering 1.57 Green Growth shares per Aphria share. “The combination of Aphria’s Canadian supply and wholesale agreements with Green Growth’s vertically integrated operations and rapidly growing retail footprint in the United States best positions us to capitalize on the massive growth opportunities in North America and beyond,” Peter Horvath, chief executive officer of Green Growth said in a statement Tuesday.However, in a statement late Tuesday, Aphria urged shareholders to take no action until the board makes a formal recommendation.

Volume was still 3.3% higher than the same period last year. People looking for mortgages saw a drop in interest rates in December and took advantage the rates at the start of this year.The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($484,350 or less) increased to 4.75% from 4.74%, with points decreasing to 0.44 from 0.45 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.

Traditional cigarettes are likely to suffer a backlash in the long run, as substitutes like e-cigarettes are gaining momentum at a steady pace in the smoking market, particularly among the younger demographic. This has made the leading tobacco brand, Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc., invest in e-cigarette company Juul Labs and cannabis company Cronos Group Inc. Morgan Stanely (MS) analysts have recently predicted a decline in the sale of traditional cigarettes as demographic modeling reveals cigarette smoking volume is expected to witness deceleration of around 6% a year over the next decade, with young people not taking it up.The stock might also hit low single-digits. Merging with Juul in the production of e-cigarettes does not eliminate risks for the Marlboro maker.

Johnson & Johnson’s fourth quarter results reveal that sales were up just 1% to $20.4 billion, with adjusted net income coming-in at just $5.37 billion, which is $1.97 per share.Decreasing sales in certain quarters owing to negative currency effects; the net impact of acquisitions and divestitures during the year also affected performance without which worldwide sales would have risen 5.5%, with international sales climbing 7.8% and U.S. sales rising by 3.4% on an operational basis. J&J’s pharmaceutical segment emerged as the market leader in 2018 and registered recorded sales after growing by 5.3%.

Shares of IBM surged nearly 5% after the company reported Q4 results that beat EPS and revenue estimates, even though revenue was down 3.5% on a y-o-y basis. Q4's adjusted earnings for IBM stood at $4.87, beating EPS estimates by 3 cents.Sales for the quarter stood at $21.76 billion, approximately $10 million above the consensus estimates. IBM also issued strong FY2019 earnings guidance and is optimistic it can produce free cash flow of approximately $12 billion, as the Red Hat acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2019 and full-year guidance will provide more precision to last month's sale of certain software products to HCL Technologies. Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and CEO explained that a growing demand for IBM’s services and leadership solutions in hybrid cloud, AI, analytics and security led to the full-year revenue growth.

Barclays economists said on Wednesday they reduced their outlook on U.S. economic growth in the first quarter to an annualized rate of 2.5 percent from an earlier projection of 3.0 percent as a result of the historically long partial federal government shutdown.READ MORE...

Waters Corporation reported fourth-quarter 2018 non-GAAP earnings of $2.87 per share, edging past Zacks Consensus Estimate by 22 cents. The earnings are +14.3% higher compared to the same quarter a year ago. Net sales of the Analytical laboratory instrument manufacturing company came in at $715.02 million, beating Zacks Consensus Estimate of $702.52 million.Net sales increased +4.1% year-over-year. Major contributors to sales growth included the company’s TA product line, strong demand in Asia (especially in China), and solid performance in the pharmaceutical market. For 2019, Waters expects its non-GAAP earnings to be in the range of $9.20-$9.45 per share.